Junior doctors enter crunch talks with Government in bid to end pay dispute ... trends now
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Junior doctors in England have entered new talks with the Government with a view to ending a long-running dispute over pay.
The British Medical Association said its junior doctors' committee had agreed to an 'intensive phase of talks' facilitated by an external mediator.
The medics have staged a series of crippling walkouts over the past year, hampering efforts to cut NHS waiting lists.
The Department of Health and Social Care described the move as a 'significant step forward which could ultimately end strike action by doctors in training'.
Junior doctors in England have entered new talks with the Government with a view to ending a long-running dispute over pay. Pictured is a picket line at St Thomas' Hospital in February
The British Medical Association said its junior doctors' committee had agreed to an 'intensive phase of talks' facilitated by an external mediator
In a statement, Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chairs of the committee, said: 'We have been in dispute for more than a year with the Government over declining junior doctor pay, exploring various avenues to try and resolve it.
'We have been looking at ways of restoring trust between parties and believe that an independent mediator can help break the logjam.
'We hope to reach a credible solution as soon as possible.'
The union said on X that it hoped that the talks would 'break the logjam and gain a credible pay offer for 23/24'.
They have been pushing for real-terms pay restoration to 2008 levels.
The Department of Health and Social Care said the doctors have already been given a pay rise of up to 10.3 per cent last financial year through the pay review body process and made clear that further investment
